DUBAI // Bahraini consumer prices eased 0.19 percent in July from the month earlier on lower food costs, government data showed on Sunday. The consumer price index of the smallest Gulf Arab economy fell to 106.3 points on July 31 compared with 106.5 points at the end of June, the Central Department of Statistics said in a report, without providing annual inflation data. The food, beverage and tobacco index fell 1.03 per cent in the month to July to 114.8 points, the data showed. The housing costs index was steady at 106.8 points, the department added.
Rising global food prices and soaring rents have been spurring price rises across the Gulf, the world's biggest oil-exporting region, where economies are booming on a more than five-fold rise in oil prices since 2002. Inflation rates are showing signs of moderating in many Gulf states. In Bahrain, which has the region's lowest inflation, annual inflation was steady at 3.1 per cent in June. Reuters